“By eliminating the dance critic place and all that dance protection will be, The Washington Publish is narrowing its arts journalism and its scope. I can’t fathom why this establishment is shutting itself off to what dancers and choreographers must say about our lives and the world we reside in,” Kaufman mentioned in an interview.
“My principal concern is what will occur to these artists and the broader public information of them,” she added.
The cuts are a part of an industry-wide pattern, together with a whole lot of layoffs introduced by CNN this week. The Publish didn’t supply laid-off staffers different roles on the paper. Shani George, the newspaper’s vp of communications, mentioned no additional layoffs have been deliberate this week.
The Washington Publish Guild responded to the cuts in a tweet, saying, “there is no such thing as a justification for layoffs amid a 12 months of document hiring and progress.” Regardless of the layoffs, The Publish has recently been including positions within the protection of know-how, the local weather, well being and wellness, and in abroad information hubs.
Kaufman turned The Publish’s dance critic in 1996, chosen by a nationwide search after working as a duplicate editor on the paper for a number of years and writing freelance dance critiques.
She received the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 2010 for a bundle of tales that included considered one of her favorites — a retrospective on Cary Grant. “An individual’s means of shifting by way of area tells us one thing on a base, primitive stage,” Kaufman wrote within the story. “It’s animal to animal. It’s one thing so refined you could not consciously discover it, however when an actor strikes truthfully and with intention, your eye will observe him anyplace.”
Extra just lately, she wrote a number of items exploring artwork and neuroscience. “That is your mind on artwork” was an immersive video bundle that thought-about “Swan Lake” by way of its impact on a viewer’s mind. Kaufman additionally interviewed GoldLink, a Grammy-nominated rapper, to discover how the mind was affected by freestyle rap.
Kaufman sometimes dabbled in movie critiques, critiquing the Marilyn Monroe biopic “Blonde” for its failure to showcase the star’s dancing expertise. She analyzed the physique language of a 2016 presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. She even wrote in regards to the Tour de France as artwork.
Her ultimate story revealed Thursday afternoon: “A brand new ballet suggestions ‘Evita’ Perón off her pedestal.”
“What I’ve performed possibly a little bit in a different way is I’ve actually tried to develop the notion of what dance is and what a dance critic can do,” mentioned Kaufman, whom colleagues described as a gifted author, deeply dedicated to her beat, and considerate about methods motion and beauty transcended the artwork kind.
Certainly, in 2016, she revealed a e book, “The Artwork of Grace: On Shifting Effectively By way of Life.”
Kaufman was one of many final two full-time dance critics within the nation as of 2015, in line with the Atlantic.
“I’ve had the nice fortune to satisfy and be impressed by so many extraordinary artists daily of my profession,” Kaufman mentioned Thursday. “It’s been a stupendous present to be immersed in one of many world’s nice artwork types.”
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